W. Griffin - By Order of the President

She took out her cellular, scrolled through the names and numbers displayed on it, and pushed the CALL button when she had found it.

"Mr. Halloran, this is Sergeant Schneider, Betty Schneider. Remember me? "This is a strange question, Mr. Halloran, but please bear with me. Off the top of your head, do you know of any airline from Costa Rica that comes to Philadelphia frequently? I don't mean a passenger service, especially "Oh, you do know one? Could you tell me about it, please?"

Less than sixty seconds later, she covered the microphone with her hand and said, "Bingo! I think you'd better get Castillo back, Dick."

And thirty seconds after that, Miller reported, "The channel's in use."

"Keep trying," Sergeant Schneider ordered.

[SIX]

"Before you say anything, Charley," Lieutenant General Bruce J. McNab said, "let me tell you the latest words of General Allan Naylor vis-a-vis you and me. 'You're a goddamned lieutenant general. You don't take goddamned "suggestions" from a goddamned major! And you goddamn well know it!' "

"He found out you're at Hurlburt?" Castillo asked, but it was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, he did. And apparently he's not nearly as impressed with your status as the personal representative of the president as I hoped he would be."

"Well, I'll take the heat, sir. I still think it was a good idea to pre-position at Hurlburt."

"That's very noble of you, Charley, but he's right. Lieutenant generals should not take suggestions from majors, and, if they do, they should expect to feel the heat. What's up?"

"The airplane is somewhere in Costa Rica; it's been rerenumbered and rere-painted."

"Jesus, are you sure? The only reason we're not on our way to Suriname right now is because they haven't been able to find us someplace where we can sit the C-17 down."

"It's not in Suriname," Castillo said.

"You got that from your friend the Russian arms dealer, right?"

"Right."

"My God, Charley! Fort Meade has photographs of the airplane at Zandery. The CIA guy in Suriname made a visual and you're telling me they have the wrong airplane?"

"Yes, sir. They probably have a photograph of an Air Suriname 727 with the right numbers, because it's an Air Suriname 727. The airplane the Holy Legion of Muhammad has is probably in Costa Rica."

"Where in Costa Rica?"

"I don't know that yet."

"Have you told anybody else this?"

"No, sir. What I've done is send Miller out to the airport in Philadelphia to see what airplanes from Costa Rica routinely land there. What they're obviously trying to do is get into the Philadelphia area without ringing alarm bells."

"How are they going to do that?" McNab asked, dubiously.

He thinks I've lost my mind.

Have I?

"By immobilizing a bona fide Costa Rican 727 for twenty-four hours and sending the one they have in its place."

"You're going to have a tough time selling that to Naylor. He already thinks you're drunk out of your mind with authority you don't have."

"What if I'm right, General?" Castillo said. "And I'm not going to try to sell General Naylor anything. I'm going to tell Secretary Hall. I work for him, not General Naylor."

"Charley," McNab said, softly. "You're an Army officer assigned to Cent-Corn J-5."

Castillo didn't reply for a moment, then he said: "General, until I'm told otherwise I will continue to obey the last orders I have-which are from the president-to coordinate with you the neutralizing of the 727. In that capacity, I am recommending to you that you prepare to neutralize the 727 in Costa Rica."

It took McNab ten seconds to reply.

"What the hell, Mr. Castillo, in for a penny, in for a pound."

"I'm now going to report to Secretary Hall what I've learned," Castillo said. "I'll let you know what he says."

"Do that," McNab said. "McNab out."

Charley touched Sergeant Sherman's shoulder.

"Get me Philadelphia again, please."

"Coming up," Sherman said, and, a moment later, "All green, encryption, green."

"Miller?"

"Sergeant Schneider, Major."

"Put Miller on, please."

"I think you better hear this first," Betty Schneider said. "Costa Rican Air Transport makes frequent flights into Philadelphia using its 727 aircraft at least once a week, sometimes two or three times."

"Jesus, that was quick!" Castillo said. "Are you sure?"

"Halloran-Lease-Aire-sold them the airplane. He services it when it's here. Flowers into Philadelphia and household goods into San Jose."

"Flowers and household goods?"

"Fresh flowers. They grow them in Costa Rica and fly them here to sell in supermarkets. And the household goods are for Americans who retire down there. They can bring their household stuff into Costa Rica without paying any duty on it."

"Jesus Christ, there's the connection," Castillo said.

"There's more," Betty Schneider said. "On the way up here, they stop at Tampa, go through customs there, drop off some flowers, and then come here."

"As a domestic flight," Castillo said. "Not an international flight."

"Right."

"And, obviously, there would be no questions asked when they topped off their tanks," Castillo said. "Where's Secretary Hall?"

"In the mayor's office with the commissioner."

"Get him on here, Betty."

"I don't think he or the mayor's going to like being interrupted."

"Go get him," Castillo said.

[ONE]

Office of the Mayor

City Hall

Broad and Market Streets

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1015 10 June 2005

"What is it that's so important, Charley?" the secretary of homeland security said impatiently into the secure telephone, leaving unspoken the rest of the question: that you decided you should interrupt my meeting with the mayor?

Castillo knew what had not been said.

"The 727 is not in Suriname, Mr. Secretary," Castillo said.

"You mean it's taken off?"

"No, sir. What I mean is that the 727 stolen in Angola was never in Suriname."

"The DCI obviously has information, including satellite imagery and a visual by his station chief, that you're apparently not aware of."

"The Air Suriname 727 at Zandery, sir, is a legitimate Air Suriname 727. The one we're looking for, with a new identity, is somewhere in Costa Rica."

"You have this from your friend the arms dealer, right?" Matthew Hall asked, half sarcastically, half sadly.

"Yes, sir," Castillo said. "But Sergeant Schneider has just made the Philadelphia connection, which confirms what I'm telling you."

"What did she do?"

"What Pevsner suggested-he's in the process of finding out more-was that the Holy Legion of Muhammad plans to get through our security by substituting the airplane they have for an airplane that routinely comes to Philadelphia. Schneider found there is an airplane, owned by Costa Rican Air Transport, that flies fresh flowers to Philadelphia at least once a week. Lease-Aire sold them the airplane, and they service it when it's in Philadelphia. This ties in with what Pevsner told me that our airplane was at a private strip in Venezuela getting repainted as a Costa Rican Air Transport plane."

Secretary Hall looked across the small room at Sergeant Betty Schneider, who was leaning against the wall. He was aware that Joel Isaacson, Tom McGuire, and Major H. Richard Miller, Jr., were looking at him, waiting for his reaction.

That means they know about this Philadelphia connection, and, if they let Miller burst into the mayor's office, they believe it.

I would expect Miller to go with Castillo. They're like brothers.

But Joel and Tom, too?

Jesus Christ! I just finished convincing the mayor that the National Security Agency's satellites found the airplane in Suriname, that the CIA verified on the ground that it's the airplane we've been looking for, and the president has ordered "all necessary steps be taken" to neutralize it, that that operation is already under way and the situation is under control and there's no reason for further concern.